In our culture today there is a lot of emphasis on being selfless, humble, and giving towards others and yet less emphasis on taking good care of ourselves. Somehow loving ourselves and setting boundaries can be viewed as being selfish instead of just having healthy habits. But regardless of what others think, we should make sure we are giving the same amount of time, energy, and love to ourselves as we are to other people. Respecting ourselves and our own needs should come first since we are only helpful to others when we are strong and centered ourselves.

Sometimes when we begin the process of honoring ourselves other people may feel uncomfortable with the changes we are going through, but their discomfort is not our own problem to solve nor is it our responsibility how they feel towards us. We should change what we want to despite other people's opinions or possible resentment towards us. The people who truly love and support you will allow you the space to grow, while the people who do not understand will slowly fade out of your life. This will happen naturally and eventually we can find peace with it.

Over time, we learn to know the difference between imperfections and areas that could use some adjustments. We become realistic and honest with ourselves, and it's a great feeling. Sometimes we are hard on ourselves and other times not hard enough. We learn along the way. We learn to be gentle and forgiving towards ourselves, the same way we would be with a dear friend of ours. We give ourselves a break when needed or we push ourselves further, but through the entire process of life, we begin to stand up for ourselves and we learn that we are full of worth.

Loving yourself is not only important but should be a life goal for everyone on this planet. When we love ourselves, we don't allow people to disrespect us or walk all over us. We set boundaries and we learn to say, “no”. By doing this we teach others how to act towards us, with respect and kindness. We show others that they do not have control over us and our emotions or decisions. We learn to be happy on our own and detach from other people's drama. We learn to really live life to the fullest.

The journey of self-love is not a race nor is there necessarily a finish line. In fact, we grow and mature in our self-love throughout our entire lives as well as learn something different about ourselves every day. Self-love is a goal and not a target. We aim for loving growth but we also realize not every day is a step forward, but that some days we step back to revisit a lesson again and yet that's ok with us. Life is a gift we are given and self-love is a gift we give ourselves. Cherish you, you are the only you there ever was and ever will be. Take the time to learn to love yourself.